Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-10
THE LAND QUESTION.
A Review Of the Land Question In Texas.
The Lease Law-Its Effect Upon the
Safes Development.
The Wise Legislation that Made Railway
Companies Emigrant Agents NULL
fled by Wire EsncsS.

terest in her political, social and material
status and progress from her infancy as
republic 10 her present era, l desire as
citizen AM voter to submit through the
columns of The GAZETTE some PROPOSE
tons and questions bearing directly upon
state policy.
We allude TO what is known as the
lease law We desire to direct attention
to the land question, and we put it in a
different phase to what it has yet been
handled so far as we have noticed the
discussions.
Let it be observed upoL the first propo-
sition, that the school lands of the state
were located under the railroad law,
granting sixteen sections OF land to the
mile to all railroads running through the
state Of grade not less than three feet.
Referring to Revised Statutes, ,sfticle.
42G7, act of August l6, 1876, l ind that;
the state Legislature enacted a law dpF
Mating sixteen sections Of land to the
mile to any railroad corporation hereto
fore chartered or which may be hereafter
organized under the general laws.
But under this law there were some
stipulations which must be complied
with before railroad companies could
avail themselves of its broad and liberal
benefits.
Referring TO article 1875, Revised
Statutes, same act, find that railroad
companies are required to make their sur
veys in alternate seCIlOns, or half sec
tions, as n ally square as practicable:
one of such surveys fer the company and
one for the state for the benefit of the
public school fund.
Referring to article 4277, same act,
fnd that all lands acquired by rail
road companies under the provisions of
the law above quoted, or any
general law, shall be alienated by said
companies, one-half in six years, and one
hall in twelve years from the issuance of
patents And all lands so acquired by
railroad companies and not alienated
shall be forfeited to the state and become
g part of the public domain and liable to
location and survey as other unappropri-
ated lands.
Now, under this law, it will be OBJ
served that wherever there is O section Of
railroad land there is also q section .Of
school land, or vice versa. And this
system of railroad donations accomps-
MED by its twin sister, the free school
land system, is cOeval with the history OF
Texas legislation. Millions OF acres of
our choice lands, enough to make state,
have thus been vested in railroae compa-
MES and the 31blic school fund; so then
with these facts in view. the land ques-
ton in Texas must be very
important one. The land system
above noticed, donating lands to
railroad mpauies aud to the schools of
the state was the grandest idea ever con-
ceived to settle up country. Why: Be-
cause the railroads were bound to sell
Aleir lands within six and twelve years,
and the school lands were open to settle
ment on liberal terms. The railroa' be-
ing under the law bound to sell or forfeit
their land claims, they naturally became
emigrant agents and the most efficient
that could possibly be desired.
1t will be remembered by all who tray
eled on railroads that up to the spring of
1883 the railroad trains going west were
so crowded with immigrants that it was
frequently difficult for passengers to get
seats. These immigrants were being
brought by the railroad companies into
Texas to settle on railroad lands.
This system uninterrupted would
have given Texas an enormous
population of laboring people
and more, it would have given the free
school lands neighbors Intervening all
along who were striking the earth to bring
forth its fruits, and who would have in
Yited aud induced their friends and rela-
tiyes TO come and buy the school lands
and become their neighbors.
But this entire system was annulled.
This bright future for Texas was plotted
out en- e dark day for her, on .4pril II,
1888, by the advent of the lease
law. 1t Will be remembered
that about that time there was great
cattle boom, capitalists wanted to put
their money in linen who were not
citizens of the state, perhaps, and never
expected to be. They came to Texas and
viewed the situation. They said " the
railroad companies, we want 10 buy
large blocks of land, we would buy yours
but these school lands intervene, and
they can be bought only by actual
settlers and not more than
Gao acres each II this difficulty can be
obvi9ted we Will BUY your lands In large
blocks. The solution of that question
was the lease law-the land monopoly
law. The act of 1883, which authorized
the organization of the land board, and
the leasing of the school lands for q term
Of not over ten years. This law has
e9ectually disposed of the railroad lands
by the wholesale, and done away with
their emigrant agency business:
it has tied up the school lands in the
hands of the cattle kings for ten years, it
has inagurated land monopoly in Texas,
which has checked emigration and laid
an embargo upon labor in the west, ana
upon the productions OF the soil. How
this legislation was procured will leave
TO COD lecture. 1t is significant that at the
first Democratic convention after the
passage of that act, which met in Houston
in August, 1884, the Democratic party
Incorporated in their platform a plank,
the sixth article indorsing this act of the
Legislature, thus adopting the lease dw
as Democratic measure. u
Now, is this Democracy? L think not
If there ever was land monopoly it &C.
ours 70 me that this is one; moDstrous in
its conception, and whitening, blighting,
destructive in its effects upon the princi-
pies of Democracy. 1t turns over the
public domain of Texas to the
moneyed lords of earth, and bars
the doors of our state to that
stream ofimmigrstion which was making a
camp ground of her beautiful prairies.
II mot do fO COW ba 1aoca